IBB awards 2008 Hamill Innovation grants

IBB awards 2008 Hamill Innovation grants

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News staff

GEORGE BENNETT	LYDIA KAVRAKI
JANE GRANDE-ALLEN	JUN LOU
YIZHI JANE TAO	CHING-HWA KIANG
JASON HAFNER	JEFFREY HARTGERINK
JONATHAN SILBERG	JUNGHAE SUH

The Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) has awarded Hamill Innovation Grants to five new cross-disciplinary collaborative research projects by Rice faculty. Now in its fourth year, the Hamill Innovation Grant program provides seed funding for potentially high-impact yet high-risk research projects.

“Hamill grants have proven invaluable to Rice faculty who need start-up funding for research with a big potential payoff but which traditional funding agencies see as too risky,” said IBB Director Jennifer West, the Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering and professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering.

The program provides one-year, $15,000 grants that cover direct start-up costs. Proposals are judged on their originality, scientific rigor, potential impact and integration of the collaborative team.

The Hamill Award Grants program is funded by a grant from the Hamill Foundation, which has supported IBB since its founding in 1986. The 2008 Hamill Award winners will be formally recognized at the fourth annual IBB Symposium June 18.

This year’s winners are:

About Jade Boyd

Jade Boyd is science editor and associate director of news and media relations in Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.